Opinion Handwringing over the scarcity of umpires in India has led to short-lived experiments by BCCI. This needs to change

Why does a cricketing powerhouse like India, which has money, good international teams across formats, a thriving fan base, have just one Indian umpire in the elite panel? The answer is best summed up thus: Somewhere in Nagpur, there exists an umpiring academy. Started in 2010 with lofty ambitions to produce world-class umpires in India, it quickly got embroiled in conflicts between the administrators, and was reduced to an examination centre. After the former Indian captain S Venkatraghavan retired in 2004, India had to wait till 2015 for an elite panel umpire when S Ravi was inducted. But neither he nor C Shamshuddin lasted long. Nitin Menon, currently officiating in the Test in London between England and South Africa, is now the lone Indian in the group.

The Indian cricket board did try, but most moves were short-lived. They experimented with an umpire’s coach before discarding the idea. Then they had an umpire review committee, which was disbanded. Now, the match referees have that onus. Widely regarded as one of the best umpires in the world of his time, the Australian Simon Taufel has given a few coaching seminars. In the 2019 season, when the BCCI organised 2024 domestic games — a jump from 1,000 — they failed to factor in the need for more umpires and a tough slog for tired umpires ensued. In the year before that, several Ranji umpires were reportedly fielded without proper medical fitness tests due to paucity of time.

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Every two years or so, hand-wringing would occur over the state of the umpires and the BCCI would attempt something. In the last IPL, the standard of Indian umpires was heavily criticised. Unlike some countries, not many former players get into the umpiring hard grind in India. With over 2,000 games in a domestic season, a supply-chain problem continues to persist. The BCCI is now conducting exams with tough questions that test their practical aptitude to see if they can find genuinely good umpires. But for now, the uncertainty continues.